Keep Me Humble

God of all Light and Truth, just make sure that I am not a blind man or woman.
Keep me humble and honest, and that will be more than enough work for you.
— from Wondrous Encounters



We cannot change the directions of the wind, but we can adjust our sails.

Have a beautiful day unless you plan otherwise.
... B-)

Secrets

I knew I had to stop lying.
So I started sharing in meetings that I was still smoking grass. . .
I especially hated hearing that I couldn't be sober and high at the same time.
I didn't understand it; to me, being sober meant not being drunk.
But I was terrified of drinking again.
So I finally buckled under the pressure and decided to take the suggestions of people I had come to trust, and to try another ninety days without any mood-changers at all.
The rewards were virtually immediate. . .
I finally surrendered and brought my disease and my secret into the rooms of AA because I wanted to be sober.
- The Best of the Grapevine [Vol. 2], pp. 29-30


I had to get sober to be amazed.



We cannot change the directions of the wind, but we can adjust our sails.

Have a beautiful day unless you plan otherwise.
... B-)

Crutches

We don't need crutches.

We are unique and wonderful people.
We have weaknesses, yes, and we also have strengths beyond our imagining.

Perhaps we needed a crutch at one time.
We got used to it, and even though it was in our way and slowed us down, we were afraid to venture forth without it.
Gradually, the crutch began to control our movements and take over our life. We became its slave.

Then we were invited to consider the possibility of a Higher Power that would eliminate our need for a crutch.
Intrigued, we began to practice relying on this Higher Power in concrete ways on a daily basis.

We are learning how to walk again.
Scary sometimes, without the old props, but Step by Step we're on our way to recovery.

Just for today, I will put away the crutches I no longer need and rely on my Higher Power.
-- from Inner Harvest by Elisabeth L.



We cannot change the directions of the wind, but we can adjust our sails.

Have a beautiful day unless you plan otherwise.
... B-)

Faith

We finally found that faith in some kind of God was a part of our make-up.
Just as much as the feeling we have for a friend.
Sometimes we had to search fearlessly, but He was there.
He was as much a fact as we were.
We found the Great Reality deep down within us.
-- Alcoholics Anonymous, p. 55

Faith dares the soul to go beyond what the eyes can see.


F A I T H = Finding Answers In The Heart.



We cannot change the directions of the wind, but we can adjust our sails.

Have a beautiful day unless you plan otherwise.
... B-)

Worry

Worry is like a rocking chair.
It gives you something to do,
but it doesn't get you anywhere.
-- Anonymous

First, we need to determine the root of our worry.
If necessary, it may help to write down our problem.

Second, we should answer these questions:
How likely is it that this problem will actually happen?
How serious is the problem?
How much control do we have over it?

Third, we need to make a plan.
What could we do about the problem?
What would this action solve?
Sometimes the best thing we can do is let go.

Fourth, we should talk it all over with our sponsor, someone who has faced worry and stays sober.

When we take these steps, we usually learn one of two things;
there is a smarter way to handle the problem,
or there is nothing we can do about it.
-- from God Grant Me... by Anonymous

God, grant me the serenity
to accept the things I cannot change,
the courage to change the things I can and
the wisdom to know the difference.


We cannot change the directions of the wind, but we can adjust our sails.

Have a beautiful day unless you plan otherwise.
... B-)

Honesty

I know the biggest word for me in AA is "honesty."
I don't know if the program would work for me if I didn't get honest with myself about everything.
Honesty is the easiest word for me to understand because it is the exact opposite of what I've been doing all my life.
Therefore, it will be the hardest to work on.
But I will never be totally honest -- that would make me perfect.
Only God is.
-- Experience, Strength and Hope, pp. 400-401

Honesty isn't an event -- it's a process.

H A L T = Honesty, Acceptance, Love, Trust.



We cannot change the directions of the wind, but we can adjust our sails.

Have a beautiful day unless you plan otherwise.
... B-)

Letting Go

For a long time, I had the idea that
I must succeed,
I must be right,
I must be important.
If I let go, I thought, then I wouldn't be anybody.
Well, who was I, anyway? ...
Now I'm beginning to see that letting go doesn't mean giving up.
It means opening myself to new vistas.
I'm thrilled and I'm scared at the same time.
- Came To Believe . . ., p. 41


When I struggle, I sink.
When I let go, I float.



We cannot change the directions of the wind, but we can adjust our sails.

Have a beautiful day unless you plan otherwise.
... B-)

Now

Now is the time, the only time there is.
And if we are not kind to ourselves right now, we certainly cannot rightfully expect respect or consideration from others.
We have found we can enjoy, sober, every good thing we enjoyed while drinking -- and many, many more. It takes a little practice,
but the rewards more than make up for the effort.
To do so is not selfish, but self-protective. Unless we cherish our own recovery, we cannot survive to become unselfish, ethical, and socially responsible people.
- Living Sober, p. 42


Give Time -- time.



We cannot change the directions of the wind, but we can adjust our sails.

Have a beautiful day unless you plan otherwise.
... B-)

Patience

Humble God, make us like you.
You do not lord it over us, but wait patiently for us to change.
May we do the same with our brothers and sisters on the journey.
— from Wondrous Encounters



We cannot change the directions of the wind, but we can adjust our sails.

Have a beautiful day unless you plan otherwise.
... B-)

An Unfolding Story

Our lives are like a story told one day at a time.
Some of our story has been revealed; much remains.
Yet life is not like a book in which you can skip ahead; life unfolds one day at a time.

Though it may be hard right now, let's not wish any of it away but live each day fully.
We are the only ones who can write our story.

Change is not visible on a daily basis but may be revealed when I am not looking.
-- from A Restful Mind by Mark Allen Zabawa



We cannot change the directions of the wind, but we can adjust our sails.

Have a beautiful day unless you plan otherwise.
... B-)

Action

As we go through the day we pause, when agitated or doubtful, and ask for the right thought or action.
We constantly remind ourselves we are no longer running the show. . .
But this is not all.
There is action and more action.
- Alcoholics Anonymous, pp. 87-88

Right action promotes right thinking quicker than right thinking promotes right action.



We cannot change the directions of the wind, but we can adjust our sails.

Have a beautiful day unless you plan otherwise.
... B-)

Rubber Gloves

Next time you use a pair of rubber gloves, you're going to smile when you think of this:

A dentist noticed that his next patient, a little old lady, was nervous, so he decided to tell her a little joke as he put on his gloves.

'Do you know how they make these gloves?' he asked.

'No, I don't,' she replied.

'Well,' he spoofed, 'there's a building in Canada with a big tank of latex, and workers of all hand sizes walk up to the tank, dip in their hands, let them dry, then peel off the gloves and throw them into boxes of the right size.'

She didn't crack a smile.

'Oh, well. I tried,' he thought.

But five minutes later, during a delicate portion of the procedure, she burst out laughing.

'What's so funny?' he asked.

'I was just envisioning how condoms are made!'

(Gotta watch those little old ladies! Their minds are always working!)



We cannot change the directions of the wind, but we can adjust our sails.

Have a beautiful day unless you plan otherwise.
... B-)

Unconditional Love

You are to love with the same kind of love that God loves you, which is total unconditional love.
This is the summit and goal of all Jesus' moral teaching, and we cannot possibly follow it apart from divine union.
The egocentric or separate self is incapable of this kind of love.
— from Wondrous Encounters



We cannot change the directions of the wind, but we can adjust our sails.

Have a beautiful day unless you plan otherwise.
... B-)

Kitchen Table Suggestions

I asked Ebby to repeat once more what he had said over my kitchen table
in Brooklyn that first time he told me how he had gotten sober.
"Well," he said, "you know,
you get honest with yourself;
you make a self-survey;
you talk it out with the other guy;
you quit living alone and
begin to get straight with the world around by making restitution;
you try the kind of giving that demands no reward
either in approval, prestige, or money; and
you ask whatever higher power there is,
even if it is just an experiment,to help you find the grace to be released from alcoholism."
- The Language of the Heart, pp. 283-84


Every recovery from alcoholism began with one sober hour.



We cannot change the directions of the wind, but we can adjust our sails.

Have a beautiful day unless you plan otherwise.
... B-)

Joyous Certainty

Forgiveness is not some churchy technique or formula.
Forgiveness is constant from God's side,
which should become a calm, joyous certainty on our side.
— from Wondrous Encounters



We cannot change the directions of the wind, but we can adjust our sails.

Have a beautiful day unless you plan otherwise.
... B-)

Imperfections

Have patience with all things,
but chiefly have patience with yourself.
Do not lose courage in considering your own imperfections
but instantly set about remedying them –
every day begin the task anew.
-- Saint Francis de Sales



We cannot change the directions of the wind, but we can adjust our sails.

Have a beautiful day unless you plan otherwise.
... B-)

Seconding the Motion

God is always much better than the most loving person you can imagine, Jesus is saying.
It is not that we pray and God answers.
It is that our praying is already God answering within us and through us.
— from Wondrous Encounters



We cannot change the directions of the wind, but we can adjust our sails.

Have a beautiful day unless you plan otherwise.
... B-)

Red Flags

It can still occur to me what a good drink tastes like and what it can do for me, from my stand-at-attention alcoholic taste buds to my stretched out tingling toes.
As my sponsor used to point out, such thoughts are like red flags, telling me that something is not right, that I am stretched beyond my sober limit.
It's time to get back to basic AA and see what needs changing.
- Alcoholics Anonymous, p. 397


When I drink, my past becomes my future.


K C B = Keep Coming Back.



We cannot change the directions of the wind, but we can adjust our sails.

Have a beautiful day unless you plan otherwise.
... B-)

A Little

There’s always a little truth behind every “just kidding”

A little knowledge behind every “I don’t know”

A little emotion behind every “I don’t care”

A little love behind every “I hate you”

A little uneasiness behind every “I’m okay”

A little pain behind every “forget it”

A little fear behind every “leave me alone”

A little hope behind every “goodbye”

And a little something behind every "nothing"




We cannot change the directions of the wind, but we can adjust our sails.

Have a beautiful day unless you plan otherwise.
... B-)

Labels

If I have curves, I'm fat.

If I wear makeup, I'm fake.

If I like to get dressed up, I'm a hoochie.

If I say what I think, I'm a bitch.

If I cry sometimes, I'm a drama queen.

If I have guy friends, I'm a slut.

If I stand up for myself, I'm mouthy.

Seems like you can't do anything now a days without being labeled!

So what, go ahead and label me, see if I give a shit!.



We cannot change the directions of the wind, but we can adjust our sails.

Have a beautiful day unless you plan otherwise.
... B-)

Gratitude

Gratitude for the gift of life is
the primary wellspring of all religions,
the hallmark of the mystic,
the source of all true art....
It is a privilege to be alive in this time
when we can choose to take part in the self-healing of our world.
-- Joanna Macy



We cannot change the directions of the wind, but we can adjust our sails.

Have a beautiful day unless you plan otherwise.
... B-)

Juggernaut

The philosophy of self-sufficiency is not paying off.
Plainly enough, it is a bone-crushing juggernaut whose final achievement is ruin. . .
Each of us has had his own near-fatal encounter with the juggernaut of self-will, and has suffered enough under its weight to be willing to look
for something better.
- Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, pp. 37-38

When I change the way I look at things, the things I look at change.




We cannot change the directions of the wind, but we can adjust our sails.

Have a beautiful day unless you plan otherwise.
... B-)

Creative Force

The same pain that can blemish our personality can act as a creative force, burnishing it into an object of delight.
-- Vilayat Inayat Khan, Alchemical Wisdom



We cannot change the directions of the wind, but we can adjust our sails.

Have a beautiful day unless you plan otherwise.
... B-)

We Got Something Else

Dear God,
Thank you for the baby brother,
but what I prayed for was a puppy.
--Children's Letters to God

Sometimes when we pray, we get what we want.
Sometimes we get what we need.
Accept both answers – the yes's and the something else's – with heartfelt gratitude.
Then look around and see what your lesson and gift is.

God, help me remember to be thankful even when the gift is not quite what I expected.



We cannot change the directions of the wind, but we can adjust our sails.

Have a beautiful day unless you plan otherwise.
... B-)

Sobriety

Sobriety is nothing like I thought it would be.
At first it was one big emotional roller coaster, full of sharp highs and deep lows.
My emotions were new, untested, and I wasn't entirely certain I wanted
to deal with them.
I cried when I should have been laughing.
I laughed when I should have cried.
Events I thought were the end of the world turned out to be gifts.
Slowly things began to even out.
As I began to take the steps of recovery, my role in the pitiful condition of my life became clear.
- Alcoholics Anonymous, p. 316

I had to get sober to be amazed.

B E S T = Been Enjoying Sobriety Today?



We cannot change the directions of the wind, but we can adjust our sails.

Have a beautiful day unless you plan otherwise.
... B-)

Shy TImes

The shy man usually finds that he has been shy without cause and that, in practice, no one takes the slightest notice of him.
-- Robert Lynd

All we need to do is lift our heads and smile.
We will be amazed to find how little even our best friends notice about the externals, the things that don't really matter.
Who we are is far more noticeable and far more important than what we look like.
A smile at shy times helps us accept ourselves as others do.
-- from Today's Gift by Anonymous




We cannot change the directions of the wind, but we can adjust our sails.

Have a beautiful day unless you plan otherwise.
... B-)

Underestimate

Too often we underestimate the power of
a touch,
a smile,
a kind word,
a listening ear,
an honest compliment, or
the smallest act of caring,
all of which have the potential to turn a life around.
-- Leo Buscaglia



We cannot change the directions of the wind, but we can adjust our sails.

Have a beautiful day unless you plan otherwise.
... B-)

Renewal of Love

There is always a healing balm in God,
ready to soothe and renew a love relationship that has died.
— from Staying Faithful Today



We cannot change the directions of the wind, but we can adjust our sails.

Have a beautiful day unless you plan otherwise.
... B-)

Serenity

Moments of perception can build into a lifetime of spiritual serenity, as I have excellent reason to know.
Roots of reality, supplanting the neurotic underbrush, will hold fast despite the high winds of the forces which would destroy us, or which we would use to destroy ourselves.
-- As Bill Sees It, p. 173


Serenity isn't freedom from the storm;
it is peace within the storm.



We cannot change the directions of the wind, but we can adjust our sails.

Have a beautiful day unless you plan otherwise.
... B-)

Happy Tuesday ... February 15, 2011

Good morning!

Have a beautiful day unless you plan otherwise.

Back to the Bomb Plant and Day 2 of the budget roll out.
Calls to congressional staff and local leaders will keep me busy.
Spent most of my afternoon and evening on calls with my boss ... part of the fun of federal public relations.
The same budget drill every year with no one in DC understanding that our local reporters only want to know the impacts at the Bomb Plant ... their not interested in the political world inside the DC beltway.
As one news director emailed me ... you expect me to read 200 pages? ... maybe we will do better next year. ... I am not holding my breathe! ... B-)

24 Moments

I didn't really have a plan for a career, but I learned how to run our business quite successfully one day at a time. -- Joann Reed

With practice, we'll realize that living more slowly actually extends our lives because we're able to truly experience each of the moments.
Learning this, at any age, is a gift.
Let's rejoice in it.

Today offers me twenty-four hours of moments to be appreciated.
I will do my best to love them.
-- from Keepers of the Wisdom by Karen Casey


We cannot change the directions of the wind, but we can adjust our sails.

Have a beautiful day unless you plan otherwise.
... B-)

Feelings

If we are without human feelings we cannot love God in the way in which we are meant to love Him - as men.
If we do not respond to human affection we cannot be loved by God in the way in which He has willed to love us - with the Heart of the Man, Jesus Who is God, the Son of God, and the anointed Christ.
-- Thomas Merton. Thoughts in Solitude. p.13

It would be absurd to suppose that because emotion sometimes interferes with reason, that it therefore has no place in the spiritual life.
-- Thomas Merton. Thoughts in Solitude. p.12

Throughout this week, pause, take a breath, and listen with your heart



We cannot change the directions of the wind, but we can adjust our sails.

Have a beautiful day unless you plan otherwise.
... B-)

Fantasy

The more I drank, the more I fantasized everything.
I imagined getting even for hurts and rejections.
In my mind's eye I played and replayed scenes in which I was plucked magically from the bar where I stood nursing a drink and was instantly exalted to some position of power and prestige.
I lived in a dream world.
AA led me gently from this fantasizing to embrace reality with open arms. And I found it beautiful!
I was at peace with myself.
And with others.
And with God.
- Alcoholics Anonymous, p. 559

I never imagined that the greatest achievement of my life
would be peace of mind.

S O B E R = Son Of a Basket, Everything's Real.



We cannot change the directions of the wind, but we can adjust our sails.

Have a beautiful day unless you plan otherwise.
... B-)

Clouds of Life

Even if I should be locked up in a narrow cell and
a cloud should drift past my small barred window,
then I shall bring you that cloud, Oh God,
while there is still the strength in me to do so.
-- Etty Hillesum, An Interrupted Life



We cannot change the directions of the wind, but we can adjust our sails.

Have a beautiful day unless you plan otherwise.
... B-)

Love

I will love you no matter what.
I will love you if you are stupid,
if you slip and fall on your face,
if you do the wrong thing,
if you make mistakes,
if you behave like a human being -
I will love you no matter.
--Leo Buscaglia

Love does not necessarily mean sexual attraction or commitment.
Love can simply be seeing someone for who he or she is, whether that person is a friend, coworker, boss, family member, or lover.
To show love, we can keep our actions simple - by making a phone call, writing a letter, or sharing a hug.
Let's show someone we care.
-- from Night Light by Amy E. Dean


We cannot change the directions of the wind, but we can adjust our sails.

Have a beautiful day unless you plan otherwise.
... B-)

The Balm of Forgiveness

The best cure for betrayal is a healing love from the heart of the betrayed. The effective healing of the hurt inflicted by the unfaithful arises from the balm of forgiveness in the soul of the innocent partner.
— from Staying Faithful Today



We cannot change the directions of the wind, but we can adjust our sails.

Have a beautiful day unless you plan otherwise.
... B-)

Love

Love will teach us values in life.
It shows us that the things that count in life are never held in the hand but always in the heart.
And people who are loving always live in the now.
They cannot afford to live in the past or project into tomorrow.
People who love laugh more and believe that a day without laughter is a lost day.
Love is the cement for the unity we need in AA.
It joins the power of the mind and the heart for emotional growth.
- The Best of the Grapevine [Vol. 3], p. 297


Love that is unseen is eternal.



We cannot change the directions of the wind, but we can adjust our sails.
Have a beautiful day unless you plan otherwise. ... B-)

Ordinary Moments

Ordinary moments ... they in turn enrich our lives

Our spiritual life is on the same plane as our everyday relationships.
It's not just something within our mind or feelings, and it's not just lofty and in the clouds.
Spirituality is between people and in all relationships.
Its growth depends on the way we relate to each other as intimate partners.
We find it in our relationship to ordinary things like the bread we eat and the water we drink.
Spirituality is found in the ways we honor our body with food and touch, work and rest, and in the ways we honor each other.

We jointly extend our spirituality through relationships with others.
As we become friends with others or as we welcome people into our home, we receive them with hospitality because God is found in each of them.
When we reach out to others or receive them as guests, they in turn enrich and bless our lives.
This spiritual practice of hospitality has ancient roots all over the world.
It teaches us to relate with generous hospitality to all guests who appear at our door.
-- from The More We Find In Each Other
by Merle Fossum and Mavis Fossum




We cannot change the directions of the wind, but we can adjust our sails.
Have a beautiful day unless you plan otherwise. ... B-)

Someday In Your Life

How far you go in life depends on
your being tender with the young,
compassionate with the aged,
sympathetic with the striving, and
tolerant of the weak and strong.
Because someday in your life you will have been all of these.
-- George Washington Carver



We cannot change the directions of the wind, but we can adjust our sails.
Have a beautiful day unless you plan otherwise. ... B-)

Thou Shalt Not Be Human

I find it awfully hard to give myself a break.
I don't know where that attitude comes from. -- Walker I.

Thomas Edison failed to perfect the light bulb until his ten-thousandth try.

Walt Disney went bankrupt seven times before he met with success.

"Thou shalt not be human" is the command of shame.
What rubbish!
How can we be anything else?
Why would we want to be?

I pray I will live comfortably with human limitations.
I will try to accept from myself what I accept from others.
--from Days of Healing, Days of Joy
by Earnie Larsen and Carol Larsen Hegarty


We cannot change the directions of the wind, but we can adjust our sails.
Have a beautiful day unless you plan otherwise. ... B-)

God's Promise

God painted a rainbow in the sky to assure us he would always love us without reserve.
That visual aid teaches us about God's faithfulness and invites us to practice fidelity in return.
— from Staying Faithful Today



We cannot change the directions of the wind, but we can adjust our sails.
Have a beautiful day unless you plan otherwise. ... B-)

Membership Requirements

You are an AA member if you say so.
You can declare yourself in; nobody can keep you out.
No matter who you are, no matter how low you've gone, no matter how grave your emotional complications -- even your crimes -- we still can't deny you AA.
We don't want to keep you out!
- Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, p. 139


The only requirement for AA membership
is a desire to stop drinking.


A A = All Accepted.



We cannot change the directions of the wind, but we can adjust our sails.
Have a beautiful day unless you plan otherwise. ... B-)

Forgive Your Enemies

Toward the end of the Sunday service, the Minister asked, "How many of you have forgiven your enemies?"

80% held up their hands.

The Minister then repeated his question.

All responded this time, except one man, an avid golfer named Walter Barnes, who attended church only when the weather was bad.

"Mr. Barnes, it's obviously not a good morning for golf. It's good to see you here today. Are you not willing to forgive your enemies?"

"I don't have any," he replied gruffly.

"Mr. Barnes, that is very unusual. How old are you?"

"Ninety-eight," he replied.

The congregation stood up and clapped their hands.

"Oh, Mr. Barnes, would you please come down in front & tell us all how a person can live ninety-eight years & not have an enemy in the world?"

The old golfer tottered down the aisle, stopped in front of the pulpit, turned around, faced the congregation, and said simply, "I outlived all the sons of bitches."



We cannot change the directions of the wind, but we can adjust our sails.
Have a beautiful day unless you plan otherwise. ... B-)

Molehills into Mountains

How many times while driving down the road do you check your instrument panel for speed, oil pressure, and water temperature?
You depend on these to indicate a trouble-free journey or to warn you of mechanical danger.
By the same token, I use the same continuous inventory through a sharpened conscience to warn me that some thought, word, or deed of mine is out of line.
It is then up to me to correct it immediately. . . .
Only when I put it off does a molehill become a mountain.
- Thank You For Sharing, p. 56


"... and when we were wrong promptly admitted it."



We cannot change the directions of the wind, but we can adjust our sails.
Have a beautiful day unless you plan otherwise. ... B-)

Public Opinion

A little humor ... B-)


The Pastor's Ass

The pastor entered his donkey in a race and it won.
The pastor was so pleased with the donkey that he entered it in the Race
again, and it won again.

The local paper read: PASTOR'S ASS OUT FRONT.

The Bishop was so upset with this kind of publicity that he ordered the
pastor not to enter the donkey in another race.

The next day, the local paper headline read: BISHOP SCRATCHES PASTOR'S ASS.

This was too much for the bishop, so he ordered the pastor to get
rid of the donkey.
The pastor decided to give it to a nun in a nearby convent.

The local paper, hearing of the news, posted the following headline the next day: NUN HAS BEST ASS IN TOWN.

The bishop fainted.
He informed the nun that she would have to get rid of the donkey, so she
sold it to a farmer for $10.

The next day the paper read: NUN SELLS ASS FOR $10.

This was too much for the bishop, so he ordered the nun to buy back the
donkey and lead it to the plains where it could run wild.

The next day the headlines read: NUN ANNOUNCES HER ASS IS WILD AND FREE.

The bishop was buried the next day.

The moral of the story is being concerned about public opinion can
bring you much grief and misery, even shorten your life.

So be yourself and enjoy life.
Stop worrying about everyone else's ass and you'll be a lot happier and live longer!



We cannot change the directions of the wind, but we can adjust our sails.
Have a beautiful day unless you plan otherwise. ... B-)

God's Fidelity

What causes us to complain that
God has lost interest in us often depends
on our strange ability to close our ears to his word,
to shut our eyes to his enticing beauty,
to padlock the entrance to our hearts
so we cannot receive his love.
— from Staying Faithful Today



We cannot change the directions of the wind, but we can adjust our sails.
Have a beautiful day unless you plan otherwise. ... B-)

Do, or do not. There is no "try."

Do, or do not. There is no "try." -- Yoda, in The Empire Strikes Back

Some challenges we face can't be conquered simply by saying, "I will do it."
But we can choose to do something that will help.
We can't move the mountain but we can pick up some rocks.
We can engage with the problem and get to know it better.
Every action we take leads somewhere and sets us up for the next action.
We even learn from our mistakes and that moves us closer to achieving our goal.

Today I will not just "try"; I will do something to move toward my goal.
-- from Wisdom to Know by Anonymous


We cannot change the directions of the wind, but we can adjust our sails.
Have a beautiful day unless you plan otherwise. ... B-)

Fear

At heart we had all been abnormally fearful.
It mattered little whether we sat on the shore of life drinking ourselves into forgetfulness or had plunged in recklessly and willfully beyond our depth and ability.
The result was the same -- all of us had nearly perished in a sea of alcohol.
But today, in well-matured AA's, these distorted drives have been restored to something like their true purpose and direction.
- Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, pp. 123-124

Situations I fear are rarely as bad as the fear itself.

F E A R = Forgetting Everything's All Right.



We cannot change the directions of the wind, but we can adjust our sails.
Have a beautiful day unless you plan otherwise. ... B-)

Wholeheartedness

Wholeheartedness is a precious gift, but no one can actually give it to you.
You have to find the path that has heart and then walk it impeccably....
It's like someone laughing in your ear, challenging you to figure out what to do when you don't know what to do.
It humbles you.
It opens your heart.
-- Pema, The Wisdom of No Escape



We cannot change the directions of the wind, but we can adjust our sails.
Have a beautiful day unless you plan otherwise. ... B-)

Real Love

In real love you want the other person's good.
In romantic love, you want the other person.
--Margaret Anderson

Real love is not selfish; it frees both the giver and the receiver.
Knowing we're loved sustains our hearts and diminishes our difficulties.
It doesn't bind us, yet paradoxically it bonds our hearts.
These encouragements to grow, to change, to dare to depart if it's for our own good, are expressions of real love.
Real love is never ownership, only stewardship of this moment's experiences.

Let's be gentle with one another, and love fully with trust, as a child loves a grandmother.



We cannot change the directions of the wind, but we can adjust our sails.
Have a beautiful day unless you plan otherwise. ... B-)

Love Never Tires

The Holy Spirit nudges, doesn't force, us to open our hearts to Christ.
God never sleeps.
The Spirit never rests.
— from Staying Faithful Today



We cannot change the directions of the wind, but we can adjust our sails.
Have a beautiful day unless you plan otherwise. ... B-)

Coping with Families

God, help me choose the path that is right for me with family.
Help me understand there is no right or wrong in this process.
Help me strive for forgiveness and learn to detach with love, whenever possible.
I understand that this never implies that I have to forfeit self-care and health for the good of the system.
-- from The Language of Letting Go by Melody Beattie



We cannot change the directions of the wind, but we can adjust our sails.
Have a beautiful day unless you plan otherwise. ... B-)